Tottenham are confident that they will close a deal for Southampton’s Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, even though Everton have had a bid of £25m accepted for the midfielder.
Højbjerg, who has one year to run on his Southampton contract, is determined to move to Spurs, where José Mourinho wants to play him in front of the back four, and he has made that desire plain.
With the will of the player in their favour, Spurs will look to conclude negotiations with Southampton, having thus far frustrated them with their valuation of Højbjerg. Southampton will use Everton’s £25m offer as the benchmark, although Spurs will try to drive the midfielder’s price down.
Højbjerg was stripped of the Southampton captaincy after making it clear that he would not extend his deal with them and the 24-year-old has lost his regular place in the team since the Premier League’s restart from shutdown.
Southampton want to sign Kyle Walker-Peters on a permanent basis from Tottenham, the 23-year-old right-back having been on loan with them since January.
But in the interests of clarity, they are treating that and the Højbjerg deal as separate entities; the success or failure of one need not determine that of the other.
